Chapter 298: Setting Another Fire

The next morning, Yang Bo first checked the wristwatch in the internet room for any messages, then started washing up and eating. As for the small creatures being raised beneath the fortress, they were automatically fed, so no need to worry.

“Captain?” When Yang Bo logged on, Xiao Huang couldn’t believe he was online so early.

“How’s the situation? We need to move quickly today.” Yang Bo asked directly.

“Captain, aren’t you going to check the official site? Today’s the last day of the month, and they’re handing out leaderboard rewards tonight,” Xiao Huang brought up another question.

Yang Bo opened the official site and saw that the first-place reward for the individual monster-killing leaderboard was 10 million game currency, 9 million for second, and so on.

The individual wealth leaderboard worked the same way. The reward for Team Monster-Kill boards gave the captain an extra 10%, with the remainder split equally. The team leaderboard followed the same pattern.

The nameless player occupied the top of several leaderboards, which were basically dominated by Yang Bo’s team.

“Heh, the military has everything calculated…,” Yang Bo chuckled. The more the game officials offered, the more it spurred the players to spend.

Collecting materials, making equipment, and fighting for rewards—ultimately, it was all just a game. Of course, that wasn’t wrong, as the officials promoted it as such.

Doesn’t it feel familiar? It’s like some people deposit money in a bank account, then watch as the numbers change… and then, it’s all gone. At least in this game, you can play longer, unlike those changing numbers… and your money’s gone. Isn’t that worse than playing a game? (Talking about gambling here, don’t overthink it).

Once you’ve deposited your money, it’s already gone. This game works the same way. Materials remotely controlled and collected might still appear in your warehouse, but they’ve actually been taken by the military.

But the game isn’t wrong about that. After all, it’s just a game. Yang Bo guessed the rewards for future team battles would be even more generous.

After all, the team battle would destroy a lot of equipment…

“Captain,” Seeing Yang Bo’s character move again, Xiao Hong and the others logged in.

“Yeah, I see.”

“Captain, how about we go farm a few chicken farms?” The smaller girl suggested.

“No, let’s head to the slaughterhouse.” Yang Bo shook his head. It was way too easy to surpass himself there. His dynamic vision was strong enough that dealing with massive numbers of zombie chickens wouldn’t be an issue.

The others had no arguments. Perhaps they were stirred by the official announcement. Players from the respawn point were rushing around carrying ammo. It used to be a place full of cursing.

After half an hour, they arrived at the industrial district near the slaughterhouse. It seemed like no other players were in the city today; they were probably in the wilderness farming at the livestock farms.

The industrial district was located near the lower stream of the river, close to a veterinary drug factory. It was part of a small industrial park, now overtaken by tall grass and vines. Occasionally, one could spot the ruins of concrete buildings.

The metal factories were long gone. Seeing all the overgrown plants, Yang Bo had an idea. After carefully checking the map, he picked a direction and told the others to clear the weeds and vines, piling them off to the side.

Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong hacked at the weeds, while the smaller girl and older miss carried ammo. Yang Bo handled the zombies—zombie rabbits, zombie chickens, zombie dogs, and zombie cats.

After shooting a zombie cat in the head, Yang Bo felt a bit confused: Boxing +2!

In his mind, Yang Bo imagined the cat using its claws to beat up its target…

“It must increase nerve reflexes,” Yang Bo thought after some contemplation.

Most skills were difficult to level up to the grandmaster level, especially with creatures like cats and dogs. It was fine in the game, but killing these in real life could bring even more serious repercussions than killing a person…

The Alliance’s strange laws were crafted by certain troublemakers who gained the status of parliamentarians and then submitted legal revisions, which gradually took effect.

Yang Bo stumbled upon a golden opportunity: in this industrial zone, due to the large surface areas being paved, the tall grass and vines accumulated in great quantities. Perhaps it was due to the dry weather—dried branches and leaves covered the ground with hardly any moisture left.

Yes, Yang Bo thought about setting another fire. The roads in the industrial district were wide, with the tall grass mostly growing from the sides.

Even the cracks on the road had weeds sprouting.

This was pioneering work. Playing a game and chopping weeds and vine is one of the gamers’ biggest grievances about the game officials on the forums.

It also includes the frustration about monsters never respawning.

Clearing this area took over an hour. Fortunately, the bionic robot’s speed made it go by fast.

The slaughterhouse was enclosed by concrete walls, though the gates were gone.

Having cleared a large area at the entrance of the slaughterhouse, Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong retreated.

In the meantime, the two female team members ran a trip to deliver ammo, piling it behind. Then Yang Bo took his cold weapon and slammed it onto the concrete gate.

He threw a bomb into the slaughterhouse.

As soon as they did that, all three showed a look of dismay, because they heard a massive roaring sound.

“Is that a person?” Xiao Hong asked over the channel.

“Run!” Yang Bo felt that something was wrong, so they started sprinting, unable to even carry the ammo they had left on the ground.

Behind them were at least hundreds of zombie humans led by a massive one over five meters tall, wielding what appeared to be a massive knife. Was that a cutting blade from a machine?

The blade was at least 20 centimeters wide and over two meters long.

Yang Bo fired continuously, but the zombie’s body was bulletproof.

The bullets hit it like they were striking a tree.

It ran ahead of the pack, roaring as it charged.

You could hear the surrounding factory district filled with the cries of zombies.

At that moment, the tall grass, bushes, and vines surrounding them came to their rescue. As Yang Bo ran, he dismantled the bomb in less than three seconds using his Optical Ability.

He grabbed a handful of dried leaves while running, wrapping the exposed parts of the bomb with them, securing the fuse inside, and activating it.

With a soft puff, the pile of dried leaves immediately caught fire.

Yang Bo threw the flaming leaves onto the pile of weeds they had just cut down.

Untouched grasslands accumulate dried leaves that pile up on the ground each year.

It was similar to straw. The fire on the ground instantly spread.

Meanwhile, the giant zombie was less than 50 meters away from Yang Bo.

Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong were already running faster since they had distanced themselves earlier, planning to watch Yang Bo’s performance from afar.

Yang Bo spun around and crouched, firing continuously.

He aimed at the zombie’s eyes, but to his surprise, in the next moment, the zombie raised its thick blade to shield its face.

So Yang Bo aimed at the zombie’s neck and fired continuously.

“Drop the ammo on the ground.” The bullets hit the zombie’s neck. It staggered, and Yang Bo knew he had a chance.

“Smaller Girl, quickly buy the largest sniper rifle and the most powerful bullets,” Yang Bo commanded.

Bullets relentlessly struck the zombie’s head. The zombie had to use its thick blade to block, gradually slowing down its pace.

Yang Bo fired a five-round burst. Two hit the thick blade, and three struck the neck.

Xiao Hong dropped a set of bullets and kept running, turning back and gasping in shock.

Yang Bo was retreating quickly while firing, showing no signs of slowing down compared to the others.

The massive creature in front ran extremely fast due to its size, while the other zombies lagged behind.

Where they had ignited the fire, the flames had already spread. The vines covering the concrete portions near the factory were dry and wellgrown, allowing the fire to breathe.

Thick smoke could be seen from afar. Players at the respawn point stood frozen in shock, recording videos, or using binoculars to watch.

They could see the huge zombie approaching from afar and started posting about the boss sighting in their team chats.

Some curious players rushed to buy sniper rifles, preparing to steal the boss kill.

Yang Bo kept running and shooting, growing increasingly curious about this planet. Even the zombies could evolve here.

But then he brushed it off. If zombies couldn’t evolve, the military would’ve wiped them out long ago.

Perhaps this planet’s condition was caused by certain individuals wanting to see how far the zombies could evolve.

Or maybe it was some cruel experiment. Like, what if the planet’s natives tried to resist the Alliance’s rule? Heh.

Or maybe the planet was already like this when the Alliance discovered it.

Humans, after all, are fragile creatures in the universe. Without atmospheric protection, any starstorm could easily kill them.

“What a garbage game!” Yang Bo pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire. Upon closer inspection, he saw the durability had run out.

He threw the gun aside and started running. He then told Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong to drop everything they were carrying.

Yang Bo also discarded his items before running toward a large tree. The tree had once been part of the landscape but had since grown to half a meter wide.

“You guys go first. I’ll buy some time.” Yang Bo quickly climbed the tree.

The enraged zombie followed closely, waving its large blade as it approached the tree.

The zombie swung the blade around wildly, chopping at the base of the tree. Its speed was terrifying.

Within a minute, the tree had a huge gash and began to fall.

Yang Bo waited for the right moment and jumped to another nearby tree.

The zombie below roared in fury, hacking away at any fallen branches that got in its way.

Yang Bo didn’t panic at all; at worst, it was just a game character, after all.

Standing on the tree, Yang Bo felt the vibrations as the zombie chopped, and he glanced over at the area where he had started the fire. Thick smoke billowed out.

“Perfect,” Yang Bo grinned, pleased with himself. In the industrial zone, the solid roads prevented the plants from decaying as rapidly as they did elsewhere.

“Just don’t burn down the whole industrial park.” Yang Bo chuckled to himself as he waited.

The tree beneath him began to topple, and he used the momentum to leap to another tree.

Then he pulled out a bomb and threw it at the huge zombie.

The zombie screeched in pain as the bomb exploded. Wielding the large blade like a cutter, it began clearing away any fallen branches in its path.

The trees along the roadside had grown dense, and the zombie started chopping again.

From afar, a sniper rifle could be heard. However, the shot missed the zombie because fallen branches blocked the sniper’s view.

“That guy’s an idiot! They’ll kill the boss, and someone else will loot the mission items!”

“Exactly, there’s no item protection in this game.”

“Is that guy playing so much he’s gone crazy?” One player at the respawn point had just fired a shot and immediately became the subject of ridicule.

Only after hearing the comments did the player realize: “This game is trash.”

“Captain, where should I place the sniper rifle?” At that moment, the smaller girl, who had purchased the sniper rifle, was on her way.

Yang Bo checked the map, marked a spot for her, and instructed her to load the bullets.

The marked location was only 500-600 meters from Yang Bo.

“Captain, I’ve prepared everything.” After setting up, she quickly retreated.

At that moment, a loud explosion came from the burning area, as if something combustible had caught fire.

Charge +2!

Blade Mastery +2!

Pharmacy +2!

Boxing +2!

A flood of notifications filled Yang Bo’s mind. He quickly looked over at the fire to find it had been extinguished.

“Haha, the military finally stepped in.” Seeing the scene, Yang Bo knew it was planned all along.

The massive zombie below had also been startled. Yang Bo sensed it was acting strange, so he tossed another bomb, sending it howling and chopping at the trees again.

This time, as the tree fell, Yang Bo leaped from it and sprinted toward the sniper rifle.

Zombies chasing him were blocked by the fallen trees, momentarily losing sight of him. Only when the trees fully collapsed did they spot him again, rushing with the blade held high.

By the time Yang Bo grabbed the sniper rifle, the zombie was less than ten meters away.

Yang Bo rolled to the ground and immediately fired the sniper rifle.

The shot landed on the zombie’s knee. While it didn’t shatter the kneecap, the immense impact caused its leg to falter.

The other leg couldn’t react in time, sending the zombie tumbling face-first to the ground.

Yang Bo quickly reloaded, taking aim at the zombie’s neck as it began to rise again.

The shot pierced through, causing the zombie’s lower body to convulse while its head twisted at an odd angle. Then, the zombie tore its own head off.

“What kind of metal is this blade made of?” Yang Bo wondered aloud. The zombie’s blade looked like solid metal.

“Come get the mission items!” Yang Bo urged. The zombie’s head was gnawing at the ground. Although the pavement had deteriorated with years of neglect, the zombie still managed to chew through it.